Policy Revised / Created:April 2016

Policy to be reviewd:April 2017

Signatures

Mr Andrew TealeMrs Fiona Nikitik

HeadteacherChair of Governors

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction

Admissions Policy

Admission Decision

In Year Applications

Admissions Policy / 1

Introduction

This document is a statement of the policy of St Paul’s Church of England Primary School with respect to Admissions. The Admission policy will be reviewed in April 2017.

St Paul’s Church of England Primary School is a Self-Governing School in the Diocese of Hereford. St Paul’s was established in 1868 before the notion of local authority catchment areas was conceived. The school governors are pleased to accept applications for admission from all families, irrespective of their address.

As St Paul’s Primary School is a Self-Governing School, it means that the Governing Body is the Admissions Authority and must publish a policy setting out all the arrangements for admissions. The Governing Body works with the Local Authority and the Diocese adhering to their statutory arrangements and criteria.

This policy has been made in accordance with the Sex Discrimination Act, the Race Relations Act, the Human Rights Act 1995 and 2006 and the Equality Act 2006. The implementation of this policy will be administered fairly and impartially. The decision to admit, or otherwise, is the sole responsibility of the Governing Body.

The information following is correct for the academic year 2017/2018 onwards, but could be altered for future years. All applications are made by parents or carers for the child or children.

Admissions Policy

Every school has a limit set for admissions during the year in accordance with the Education Reform Act 1988. This is called the planned admissions number (PAN). For St Paul’s Primary School a limit of 60 places has been set for the Reception group.

St Paul’s Church of England Primary School has two classes for Reception aged pupils. No KS1 class will exceed 30 at the beginning of an academic year, unless a child is admitted under the ‘Permitted Exception’ criteria.

The Local Authority operates a timetabled co-ordinated admissions procedure for all primary schools in line with Government legislation. The LA co-ordinates the admissions process on behalf of the school according to the scheme published in their Admissions Booklet for that year – but is still the Governing Body for this school which will allocate the available places in line with this policy.

The parents of each child approaching school age will receive an admissions pack from the Local Authority which will contain information about the admission process and the forms that are required to be completed. The information booklet will help you complete the application form and will provide the dates for notification to parents of admission decisions and the closing date for accepting places or for lodging any appeals.

Oversubscription Criteria to be applied in order where there are more applications than there are places available.

1.Pupils with a Statement of Special Education Need which names St Paul’s Church of England Primary School or where, following consultation with the governors, the LA believes that the pupil’s special educational need would be met best by attendance at St Paul’s Church of England Primary School.

2.Pupils in the ‘Looked After’ system and children who are adopted, where the approved agencies, in consultation with the Governors, agree that St Paul’s Church of England Primary School is the most appropriate school to meet the child’s needs.

3.Pupils whose principal address is within the ecclesiastical parish of St Paul’s Church, Tupsley and who have a sibling in school at the time of entry.

4.Pupils whose principal address is within the ecclesiastical parish of St Paul’s Church, Tupsley and who request a ‘Church Place’ supported by the appropriate church minister. Faith in this context is defined as being an adherent to the Christian Trinity.

5.Pupils whose principal address is within the ecclesiastical parish of St Paul’s Church, Tupsley and who have the shorted available walking route to school as measured by the LA.

6.Pupils whose principal address is outside the ecclesiastical parish of St Paul’s Church, Tupsley and who have a sibling in school at the time of entry.

7.Pupils whose principal address is outside the ecclesiastical parish of St Paul’s Church, Tupsley and whose family is actively involved in the worship, life and work of a Christian Faith church. This application must be supported by the appropriate church minister.

8.Pupils whose principal address is outside the ecclesiastical parish of St Paul’s Church, Tupsley and who have the shorted available route to school as measured by the LA.

-“Church” is taken as meaning an organised body subscribing to the doctrine of the Trinity, which is either a member of the local Christian Council / Council of Churches or affiliated to ‘Christians together in England’.

-“shortest available walking route to school” is determined by the LA using computer assisted OS maps and postcodes to ensure accurate measurement. This measurement will simply be used to differentiate between candidates who fulfil these criteria in the event of oversubscription, rather than being a requirement under the criteria itself.

-“Parents” include all those who have a parental responsibility for a child as set out in the Children Act 1989. Where responsibility is shared, the person receiving Child Benefit is deemed to be the parent responsible for completing application forms and whose address will be used for admission purposes.

-“The home address” will be the address used for correspondence related to where ‘Child Benefit’ is paid. In cases where there is doubt of the home address, or where a child lives between two homes (split families) or other relevant circumstances, proof of the home address must be provided to the school to confirm the address on the application form. Home address will be the address that complies with the above at the closing date for applications set by the Local Authority.

-“Sibling” is defined as:

-a full or half brother or sister

-a step brother or step sister

-an adoptive brother or sister

-children or parents who are married or cohabiting, where the parents and children live together in the same family household

The closing date for applications, set by the LA, is in January preceding the relevant academic year. Subsequent to this date the Governors will allocate places in accordance with the admission policy. If a place is refused, then under the 1996 Education Act, a parent has the right of appeal, for which application should be made in writing to the Chair of Governors, St Paul’s Church of England Primary School, Hampton Dene Road, Tupsley, Hereford, HR1 1UX.

Admission Decision

Reception parents will be notified by the Local Authority of the Governors’ decision on the date published in the Local Authority’s booklet.

If you are offered a place at St Paul’s Church of England Primary School, your child will be invited to visit the school during the latter part of April. Following this a meeting will be held for parents in May where all of the induction arrangements will be explained and parents will be given a welcome pack. One of the first arrangements to be made is choosing an afternoon for your child to visit school each week of June.

Addendum: Church Places Criteria

The following extract adapted from the National Society’s admissions advice is an additional explanation that the DBE (Diocesan Board of Education) would like highlighted to Governors and prospective parents of how Church places are defined and determined.

National Context: On 14th March 2006, the Archbishop of Canterbury asked the Church to find ‘some simple objective criteria, applicable across the country, for admissions; and to avoid misunderstanding, some clear public commitment in the whole sector to guarantee places for local children and for children of other faith backgrounds’. The Hereford Diocesan Board of Education has responded by recommending the following criteria and understanding which have been adopted by this school’s Governing Body.

Christian Commitment – ‘faith priority’ places

(i)Baptism is the basic criterion for the identification of the children of practising Christian families. Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child could also be taken into account for those Christians who do not practise infant Baptism. However, that will not normally be enough on its own, if over-subscribed schools are going to be able to distinguish those most clearly admissible on faith grounds. There needs also to be some evidence on the basis that they are of the faith of the school.

(ii)We operate, therefore, a three-tier stratification for faith-based places:

  • Known to the church
  • Attached to the church and
  • At the heart of the church

(iii)Applicants for a faith priority place will be asked to identify themselves as being: known to the church; or attached to the church; or at the heart of the church. The period in question will normally be the past two years. Applicants new to the area would need to provide evidence from a previous church or churches.

(iv)An applicant ‘known to the church’ will not be a frequent but probably an occasional worshipper, someone who is perhaps known through a family connection, or one or more of those family would be involved in some church activity, such as a uniformed or other church organisation.

(v)An applicant ‘attached to the church’ will be a regular but not frequent worshipper, but which is meant (for example) one who usually attends a monthly family or church parade service or is regularly involved in a weekday church activity including an element of worship.

(vi)An applicant ‘at the heart of the church’ will be a regular worshipper. This might normally mean one who worships usually twice a month. To accommodate difficult patterns of work and family relationships account will be taken of week-day worship. The worshipper could be the child for whom application is made or one or both parents.

Application form and church reference

(vii)Applicants for faith priority places will need an application form (available from the Governors) to give evidence of their Christian (or other faith) commitment.

(viii)Christian applicants should give evidence that the child for whom a place is sought has been baptised or had a service of Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child. A copy of the certificate of Baptism or a service of Thanksgiving should be included if possible with the application.

(ix)There needs to be confirmation through a worship community reference of applicants’ claims, where they are applying on a faith priority basis. This reference will simply confirm or reject the objective facts as proposed by the family: this family is known to the church; this family is attached to the church; this family is at the heart of the church.

(x)Once the reference is available to the Governing Body of the school it becomes objective evidence for the admissions committee in forming their judgement on the application. The same will apply in the case of any subsequent appeal or adjudication.

In Year Applications

Within the school’s admission limits of 60 pupils per year group, the allocation of places which become available during the year will be made on the basis of the Oversubscription Criteria.

In some circumstances, where an application meets the Permitted Exceptions criteria below, a child may be admitted to St Paul’s where the class size has reached its PAN, to a maximum of 32 pupils per class. Where an application is made under the Permitted Exceptions criteria for a class that already has 32 pupils, the application will be declined and may then be submitted for an appeal.

Permitted Exceptions:

a)Children admitted outside the normal admissions round with statements of Special Educational Needs specifying a school.

b)Looked After Children (LAC) and previously looked after children admitted outside the normal admissions round.

c)Children admitted, after initial allocation of places, because of a procedural error made by the Admission Authority (SPPS) or the Local Authority in the original application process.

d)Children admitted after an independent appeals panel upholds an appeal.

e)Children who move into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no other available school within reasonable distance (the LA has to confirm that the child qualifies under this category).

f)Children of UK service personnel admitted outside the normal admissions round, who move into the area and for whom there is no other available school within reasonable distance (the LA has to confirm that the child qualifies under this category).

g)Children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted otherwise than as an excepted pupil.

h)Children with Special Educational Needs who are normally taught in a Special Educational Needs unit attached to the school, or registered at a special school, who attend some infant classes within the mainstream school.

Admissions Policy / 1